Vladimir Putin

On 28th July, 1983, Vladimir married Lyudmila Shkrebneva after a courtship of about three years. The couple were blessed with two daughters Maria and Yekaterina.

This president has been a subject to many alleged link-ups, but these were regarded as rumours and the couple denied all the allegations. However, the couple announced a divorce in 2013 and within a year, the divorce was finalised.

A street of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, has been named after him as ‘Vladimir Putin Avenue’. A peak in Tian Shan Mountains has also been named after this politician as ‘Vladimir Putin Peak’.

Vladimir Putin was born to Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina on 7th October, 1952, in Saint Petersberg, Soviet Union.

During 1960-68, he attended the ‘Primary School No. 193’ located at Baskov Lane. He then joined the ‘High School No. 281’, and even took interest in sports like sambo (a martial art form) and judo.

In 1970, he enrolled at the ‘Leningrad State University’ Law Department, and as a student he joined the ‘Communist Party of the Soviet Union’. During the same time, he encountered the Russian politician Anatoly Sobchak.

He worked on his thesis entitled ‘The Most Favored Nation Trading in International Law’, and in 1975, he graduated from the university.

Soon after graduating from law school, he entered government run intelligence agency ‘KGB’ (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). At the beginning of 1980s, he was trained at the ‘KGB School No. 1’, Moscow.

He worked for the ‘KGB’ agency’s Directorate Secretariat and then was employed at the Counterintelligence Division. He was again sent for training by ‘KGB’ to ‘Andropov Red Banner Institute’ to prepare him for his trip to Germany.

During the period 1985-90, he operated in the Dresden city of East Germany as an undercover agent. Vladimir’s hard work earned him the position of lieutenant colonel and eventually he became the senior assistant to the head of the department in the intelligence office.

In 1990, he travelled back to Leningrad and was appointed to the ‘Leningrad State University’ as the rector, in which capacity he handled international relations.

He chaired the ‘Committee for International Relations’ at St. Petersburg City Hall in 1991, and a few years later, also joined the St. Petersburg City Government as the Deputy Chairman. Soon after joining the City Hall, he resigned from his post at the ‘KGB’.

The ‘2010 Russian Wildfire’ that broke, had huge aftermaths. Crops were destroyed and thousands died due to the smog that was created due to this fire. The President took special care to help people overcome this emergency situation and himself took charge of the reconstruction of homes and provide compensation to the victims.

In 2014, Putin ordered Russian army into Ukrainian territory and annexed Crimea after a disputed referendum in which Crimeans voted to join the Russian Federation. As a result of this, many countries slapped economic sanctions against Russia.

In 2015, on request of the Syrian government, Putin authorized Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War to offer to help Syrian government in their fight against rebel and jihadist groups.

Putin has been accused by America of meddling in 2016 American presidential elections. He has been accused of personally ordering a campaign to denigrate Hillary Clinton and to harm her electoral chances. But Putin has denied any interference in American presidential election.